Sara CraftRamen Bar

Ramen in Melbourne rarely arrives with this kind of fine-dining lineage. The head chef trained in the French-Japanese kitchens of an Iron Chef, and his co-owners carry Michelin and hatted pedigrees from rooms such as Joel Robuchon, Bilson's and Aria; the ambition shows in the bowl. Rather than chase the heavy Hakata style, the kitchen builds around a lighter, shoyu-forward broth designed to let each element read clearly. Noodles are made from Haruyutaka, a prized Hokkaido wheat, which gives them a silky, elastic chew that holds up in the soup. The tonkotsu shoyu comes crowned with a spiral of braised pork, burdock chips and, if you ask, a house chilli oil; elsewhere a French inflection surfaces in an asari clam shoyu finished with burnt butter, and in a yuzu and smoked-duck version that would not look out of place on a tasting menu. Cocktails follow Japanese mixology rather than an afterthought wine list. The Little Lonsdale Street original runs walk-in only, small and focused, the queue part of the arrangement. It treats a humble bowl of noodles with the seriousness usually reserved for the tasting-menu circuit, and largely earns the conceit.